Within a matter of months life has changed considerably for us as we begin to embrace our ‘new normal’.
The pandemic has brought into sharp focus the life we led before, the people we cherish and the kind of life we wish to lead once this crisis blows over. With less cars on the road and cleaner air, it has also got us questioning why we ever accepted our ‘previous normal’ and with it the dangerously rapid decline of our nature.
Since the 1960s the use of plastics and our heavy reliance on fossil fuels has grown to take centre place in almost everything we possess.
From the pens we write with to the protective coating in our canned foods to the numerous children’s toys and household gadgets throughout our homes – add to this, the global surge in yet more single-use plastics as cafes, restaurants and pubs turn to providing takeaway services in response to the crisis. It is safe to say plastic is everywhere and is going nowhere, fast.
Plastic is a major source of pollution. It pollutes at every stage of its lifecycle from the oil and gas extracted to produce it, right through to when it ends up in our soil, rivers and beaches and by default in the fish and livestock we consume.
According to a recent report by the UN Environment Programme, plastics make up as much as 95 percent of the marine litter found on coastlines, sea surface, and the ocean floor. Anyone who has followed the Blue Planet series would know exactly what this means for our waters and the precious life these sustain.
Sadly, things look set to get worse. As the pandemic takes hold, streets and beaches are becoming littered with disposable masks and gloves and single-use plastics are getting a new lease on life.
In Europe alone, each year, over 25 million tonnes of plastic waste is generated. Of this, less than a third (30%) is collected to be recycled. The rest is destined for our already burgeoning landfill sites, incinerators or to developing countries who are paid to deal with it – and not always with the means nor the necessary checks required.
The appetite for change, however, is there and Scotland can and should do more to minimise its reliance on plastics.
A recent survey undertaken by Survation on behalf of Scottish Environment LINK, a coalition of leading environmental agencies in Scotland found that almost three quarters of Scots (74%) agreed that wherever possible the Government should only allow materials that are practicably and safely recyclable to be sold in Scotland. Almost all of the people surveyed (90%) believed that producers and retailers have a responsibility for the environmental impact of their products and as many as 80% support a ban on all environmentally harmful items where there are practical re-usable alternatives.
Growing levels of pollution and the alarming decline of biodiversity as the aftermath of our reliance on fossil fuels can no longer be ‘our normal’.
The pandemic has been a tough lesson for us all. It has also allowed us to see the status quo is not necessarily the way forward. That the rapid decline of the health of our nature and everything it helps to sustain is not a done deal. That the ‘normal’ we have got used to is not working and that now is not too late to think of a ‘new normal’, which is good for us and our precious and only planet.
This difficult period presents us with an opportunity to rethink and reshape how we live, consume and the type of world we wish to see in the future. A world we all deserve – before it’s too late.
Dr Phoebe Cochrane, Sustainable Economics Officer, Scottish Environment LINK
This blog was published in The National on Sunday 28 June 2020.
Written in May, still locked down in Scotland, there was time for pause. I fell to wondering about where we were headed.
The daily permitted escapes from home are mostly helping to find or regain some calm – in a local wood, on a beach, a country path or looking up at a vapour trail free sky. Breathing clean(er) air. Hearing birdsong, clearer, louder, more diverse. Seeing wildlife in empty streets. In such strange times there is a clear opportunity to reflect and to reimagine and to plan.
How on earth did we get here?! We did let it or, in some cases, make it happen. It has been a long journey from our origins inside nature, to the times of subduing it with a sense of right and sovereignty. All the way to a point where nature is seemingly fighting back against the uncomprehending, careless human foe that has wreaked such havoc.
The trajectory saw us “survive” various self-inflicted tragedies: wars, economic crashes, previous pandemics, the Silent Spring. We have proposed limits to growth, a case for sustainability, even sustainable development goals. Some have seen these as opportunities to continue conventional growth models and variations on neoclassical economic dependence on stimulating demand and offering more and more supply that exploits the resource base of the planet, but better dressed up. Nodding appropriately towards greenness. But with fingers crossed behind our backs. Growth at all costs. The cost in fact of planetary health and therefore, ultimately, our own.
We have crescendoed now to climate and ecosystem crises and crises too of democracy and trust in governments, of media influence, intense global poverty and management of diseases stretching beyond our once seemingly supreme creativity and power. So, in surviving, what have we learned? What will we do differently?
With some echoes of the 1930s US New Deal, there is extensive talk of Green Recovery and Green New Deals and an EU strategy too. But is this really a late on, ecologically credible Franklin Delano Roosevelt make-over? Great, beneficial and necessary, often “environmental” public works giving society useful and serious work. Decarbonising? Bringing lifelong skills, networks and participation? On a fair, fair-paid, community-building and sustaining basis? Universal basic income maybe, and a farewell to effete, class-based, pejorative “low pay=low skill=low value”? And all, respectful of our planetary asset base?
Once, clean air, water and land, healthy and safe environments were goals and objectives likely to be shared by, almost, all. Achieved by a positive clear vision, strong policy, plans and investment and competent, effective regulators. Reflecting on parallels with the banks and the Global Financial Crisis still sends a shiver. How we got in; how we got out. Self-regulation, for the genuinely responsible professional, the perpetually focussed and the lucky, may be good and work for a time.
But then if jobs (number not quality) and growth matter most, and recovery is just about “getting back to work”, getting on with profit, flying, driving, making, polluting, selling and buying as before, what has changed? Is it a marketing gloss and more political rhetoric? And where really does environment fit?
If new cycle lanes will soon be redrawn narrower once more, if shareholders still want arms and oil sales, if assets are as maldistributed as before….we return to rainforest clearance, habitat loss, poor air quality and health.
These genuinely are testing times. We must be tested. And how will we perform? Will we fight to protect what we have rediscovered as valuable: things, ultimately, we do not wish to live without.
Pollution levels have fallen dramatically but the downward spike, if it turns to a rebound, will count for nothing….other than a massive generational opportunity missed to make better, life-saving choices.
Leaders must lead and it will require vision and boldness. Signs of timidity are emerging already. Growth, so long the drug of choice. Growth, infinite, physically impossible growth. And the magnetic draw of the old model, life and politics seems to make some leaders and many followers reluctant to give up the old and to want, to believe in and to seek and lead real change.
Amidst lockdown and sensing clearly what good clean air once again can look and taste like, we could push on with new air quality standards and proper transport plans for the masses; all of us, irrespective of our economic power should be able to buy better quality for ourselves. In London, the congestion charge is returning. But, in Scotland, no, apparently. Now is not the time.
So will we just return to “normal”? We know we know better. Don’t we?
Global commons are perhaps for share-owners after all. But which? For all of us? We all have a share. The environment, like principles, must not be tradable.
Once, not least in the EU context, with an elaborately and, yes, often messily constructed, set of laws and policies, the notion of a clean, healthy and safe environment as a given, an agreed societal goal, perhaps even an inalienable right or a self-evident truth, was beyond argument, if not always the highest priority. Now it simply has to come first. The health of the planet frames our own.
We surely can’t claim ignorance of the connectedness of the system – that oil, plastics, marine pollution, inequality, addictions, drugs, animal trade, greed and disease are related; that natural resources, stock exchange, pension funds, traders, hedgers, prices, shopping, clothes, food, water, waste, housing are all part of a nexus desperately needing improvement?
Rewilding, green growth, the new normal. A genuinely green new deal must be so much more than slogans. It is time to define this and for our leaders to be challenged to set out credible shared visions and real plans, engaging comprehensively in its making and urgent delivery. And certainly not just from traditional economic perspectives. We have had so many warnings. How many more do we need? Would we survive the next?
A blog by Helen Todd, Campaigns and Policy Manager for Ramblers Scotland and former LINK Chair.
Sitting at home at my laptop in Edinburgh during lockdown, I’ve often found my mind wandering to some of my favourite places in Scotland. What’s it like on top of the Cairngorms right now? Are eagles noticing the lack of walkers?
It’s perhaps disconcerting for all of us who love Scotland’s wildlife and outdoors, to realise that nature doesn’t really need us to thrive. In fact, sadly the planet might be a lot better off without us.
However, as people, we need nature.
It’s not just about the air, water and soil we need to survive, but our environment is the context for our lives, from the raw materials which provide our food, medicines and goods, to the natural systems which protect and nurture us, like the bees and insects which pollinate our crops.
But humans are also a part of nature and we need to be in natural places. The Covid-19 lockdown has been hard for many of us, but it’s also highlighted how important it is for us to be able to get into green places. We gain huge benefits for our health and wellbeing from being outdoors, whether in urban parks and woodlands or in the great landscapes of mountains, lochs, coastal scenery and forests which Scotland is famous for, with their intrinsic value for our culture and sense of place.
During the strict lockdown period, the Scottish Government explicitly allowed outdoor exercise and our world-class access rights to continue, recognising these benefits. Even before coronavirus, physical inactivity was found to contribute to more than 2,500 premature deaths each year, costing NHS Scotland around £94.1 million annually. For mental health, being active in the natural environment brings particular benefits, with a 30% reduction in the risk of depression achievable.
You just have to compare the experience of a sun-dappled bike ride in your local woodland to the same distance covered indoors on an exercise bike. It’s like comparing a walk in an old commercial forest plantation to one in an ancient woodland – both may both soak up carbon, but native woodlands bring added value both for biodiversity and enjoyment.
Nature is not just important for our wellbeing. Money spent while getting outdoors for recreation is a vital part of Scotland’s economy, especially in rural areas. Scottish residents contribute approximately £2.6 billion each year through recreation and these activities play a valuable role in supporting sustainable tourism. VisitScotland estimates that walking tourism alone is worth £1.26 billion to the economy annually, supporting jobs in cafés, B&Bs and shops, as well as ranger services, path builders, outdoor instructors and many other small businesses.
Many LINK organisations help to engage people with the outdoors. This includes landowning bodies like RSPB, Scottish Wildlife Trust, National Trust for Scotland, Woodland Trust and the John Muir Trust, or the valuable role played by countryside rangers in bringing Scotland’s nature to life for generations of schoolchildren and adults alike. Add to this the energy of thousands of volunteers harnessed by LINK members in vital conservation work.
Outdoor recreation also has another benefit to society – there’s evidence that people who enjoy the outdoors are far more likely to campaign on environmental matters, helping to protect what we have for future generations. If people aren’t learning to value nature, they won’t care as its richness is depleted.
As we make the strong case for a green recovery from the Covid-19 crisis, it’s more vital than ever that we support efforts to get more people into nature to build a better, more sustainable world. This is particularly important for inequalities, as we know that too many people living in the most deprived areas of Scotland are still missing out on all the benefits of the outdoors. In fact, the wealthiest fifth of adults in Scotland are three times more likely to hill-walk or ramble than the poorest fifth.
But for this to happen there needs to be strategic investment to counter the decades of chronic underinvestment in the staff, infrastructure and the measures needed to help manage people’s visits to nature and protect the environment – and Scotland’s reputation as a destination.
Rural communities need help to support tourism with facilities like trails, toilets, public transport hubs and car parks. Investment is also needed in urban areas for paths, woodlands and blue and green spaces. I’ve found it hugely encouraging to see so many people of all abilities and backgrounds making use of Edinburgh’s paths and parks over the past months. Walking in Scotland over the lockdown period went up by 61%, which is a huge positive for the nation – but all these places need ongoing development and maintenance.
While it’s clear that public funding will be under pressure in the coming years, there must be government resources from across a range of policy areas, as well as other sources of funding such as tourism levies to help support honeypot areas. Otherwise the impacts could be even more stark this summer, as people flock outdoors or go on staycation post-lockdown.
By investing in nature and our enjoyment of the outdoors as emerge from this crisis, Scotland can make a bold commitment towards ensuring that we – and our planet – have a sustainable future for decades to come.
A first and personal take from LINK’s Chief Officer on recommendations for a green and fair recovery.
On 22 June, the Advisory Group on Economic Recovery, published a series of recommendations for the Scottish Government to consider as part of an economic recovery to the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland. Here at LINK, we responded to the Group’s request for our thoughts. You can read what we said here. This afternoon, on 23 June, the Scottish Parliament debates the Group’s recommendations.
Our first impressions are that the Group’s recommendation to shift toward a wellbeing economy is welcome and we welcome the recognition of the important role nature-based solutions to climate change can play in a recovery. However, the report has not set out an ambitious vision for what a post-pandemic Scotland could be and how we can make changes to radically improve people’s lives while tackling the climate change and reversing biodiversity loss. The report acknowledges that a green recovery is central to Scotland’s economic recovery. The vision of the green recovery could be much wider: we need to go beyond green energy generation and circular economy. The examples in the report peer though the traditional lens of exploiting natural resources: whether through green energy, carbon storage.
COVID-19 has highlighted what is really important and what matters to many of us. We must ensure that this realisation underpins what we do next. It’s taken a global pandemic to remind us that nature calms us down and reassure us. That community is a great source of strength, comfort and ability to get things done. That connections to friends and family maintain us and keep us going. That arts and culture feeds our soul in many and diverse ways. That those who work in the emergency and front-line services provide an actual lifeline and that we really appreciate what they do for us all.
This is what matters. We’ve also realised what doesn’t matter: unnecessary travel and commuting; fast-fashion and take away coffee. Going forward then, what we need, and what we hope for, is a way to ensure we can all access everything we need and find ways of building and protecting access to that for us and future generations, while halting behaviours that work against that or that we no longer need.
This is why the next steps for Scotland as we recover from the pandemic require vision and ambition. Steps that put us on a path to where we need to be in the decades ahead. This report describes its approach of handing onto future generations a world as good as the one we inherited. We need to go further than that and build on Scotland’s strengths to ensure we hand on a better world.
And that is why my first reading of the recommendations from the Advisory Group have left me feeling rather let down. It’s hard to find the vision of a better world in here. This report rests on the old school approach to ‘what can we get’. This is encapsulated by its approach to nature, or natural capital: it looks at how we can continue to exploit nature but says very little about restoring it. The examples it gives of forestry, offshore energy, carbon capture, agriculture seem to be focus on getting more for less: with recommendations for actions limited to measuring Scotland’s natural ‘balance sheet.’ With only 10 years to go to reverse trends in climate changes and biodiversity loss, now is the time to act, not prop up old ways of working and a focus only on measuring what we are losing.
Where is the wider vision, identifying what we need to build on to make the world, and the country a better place, socially, environmentally and economically? If society’s response to the pandemic has been to recognise the value of nature, communities and essential workers, these recommendations should recognise that we all deserve to be able to access a green space, that rural communities depend on sustainable tourism and a healthy environment is not just about production.
For example, the Scottish National Investment Bank must be a force for good that invests in socially just, green initiatives. Bringing forward its ability to issue bonds will be a valuable tool to, as the Advisory Group note, ‘effectively address Scotland’s grand challenges’. The Bank needs to drive innovative investment at scale which delivers a positive impact for communities and the environment.
Government ownership stakes in business, strategic business support and foreign investment are obviously going to be important – but they must be steered towards initiatives that protect and restore what’s important – the environment, society and culture. If we are to learn the lessons from the 1980s, tax incentives must be socially and environmentally responsible. Lessons from 2008 show that bail outs must come with conditions of wider benefits to society, not just stakeholders. Planning and investment in natural capital must be targeted towards a vision at scale – both geographically and across time – in an ecologically coherent context. Marine renewables may be part of a wider solution but must be within the context of managing energy demand and contributing to climate and biodiversity targets. It is too easy for renewable infrastructure to do more harm than good.
Nature-based solutions to climate change in Scotland are going to be central to our recovery: peatland restoration and forestry, along with agriculture that works with nature are absolutely key. Scotland already has mechanisms in place to deliver some of these solutions, through forestry schemes and the Peatland ACTION Fund, but the fact is this is not enough. There is a vast untapped potential for ecosystem restoration that deliver multiple gains including restoring local landscapes, bringing new business opportunities, and building skills and new jobs in rural communities. Other countries are leading on this – New Zealand, a country with similar population size as Scotland, is investing NZ$1.1bn to create 11,000 jobs in large-scale nature restoration projects.[1]
This vision is missing from the economic recovery conversation – so far. Investment in large scale restoration projects that bring skilled work and employment opportunities, a restored environment and healthier lifestyles.
I recognise the Advisory Group’s report is a first step – and that often the first step is the hardest. But these recommendations need to go much further if we are to become the innovative, sustainable and forward-looking country we could be. This is not, yet, the pivot from the old way of thinking into a new way of investing in what really matters. Scotland needs to think big and act accordingly. At the same scale as our mountains, wide open landscapes and stretching coastlines. The horizon is a long way away.
The Fight for Scotland’s Nature campaign has been pushing for an independent, well-resourced watchdog.
New EU Continuity Bill a welcome step forward, say charities.
Scottish Environment LINK, a coalition of Scotland’s leading charities has today welcomed the Scottish government’s announcement of a new EU Continuity Bill to safeguard vital environmental protections that would otherwise be lost in December this year, at the end of the Brexit transition period.
The coalition has also warned that the draft law must be significantly strengthened in a number of areas in order to ensure Scotland’s natural environment doesn’t lose out from weakened protection once we leave the EU.
Deborah Long, Chief Officer of Scottish Environment LINK, said:
“We welcome the arrival of this crucial piece of legislation to secure key environmental protections in Scotland post-Brexit. This is an important step to keep Scotland’s high environmental standards in place for the years ahead, however, we know that with a Bill of this complexity the devil will be in the detail.
“We will be examining the Scottish government’s proposals in detail to ensure the new watchdog is fully independent and well-resourced, backed up by strong environmental principles. Whilst we support the direction of travel in the Bill, a first glance shows that some work will be needed to ensure the Principles and Governance requirements meet the standards needed to safeguard Scotland’s amazing nature long into the future.”
During the Covid-19 lockdown many people have started to garden more. It is a good thing to see sales of vegetable seeds soaring, so much so that they have been hard to find. Initially, at least, it was also difficult to obtain other necessary garden products and I struggled to get hold of peat-free compost. I saw this as an encouraging sign that many gardeners are now moving away from buying horticultural peat compost and using some of the many alternatives now on the market.
Alternatives are crucial as voluntary targets have been in place across the UK for some time with the aim of ending the sale of horticultural peat by 2020 and the use of peat in professional sectors by 2030. LINK published benchmarks on peat extraction and use by 2020[1]. None of these have been met.
The reason for these targets is the massive carbon savings that can be made by keeping peat in the ground, peatlands being one of the world’s largest natural carbon stores. For thousands of years, humans have mined peatlands for fuel and fertiliser, but the extent of worldwide peatland destruction means that governments are now taking action to restore and protect these boggy places. Peatlands actually take in carbon from the atmosphere, helping to tackle climate change as well as being vital habitats for wildlife.
In the past 200 years there has been a dramatic decline in the area of lowland raised bogs [2]. In Scotland the area of bog retaining a largely undisturbed surface is estimated to have diminished by over 90% from an original 28,000 ha to 2,500 ha [3]. Raised bogs and blanket bogs are not just important habitats for rare and threatened wildlife, they also play a role in the storage and regulation of huge amounts of carbon and water, helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prevent local flooding. Globally, peatlands are estimated to hold up to one third of the Earth’s terrestrial carbon, despite only covering about 3% of the world’s surface.
If our peatlands dry out, they can no longer store as much carbon for us and our rivers may no longer protect us from flooding if rainfall levels rise. Over time, there is also the potential for positive feedback within the carbon cycle to lead to an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and a worsening of the effects of climate change.
With Scotland aiming to have net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045, the Scottish Government has recognised that our peatlands are a low hanging fruit when it comes to tackling climate change. In January, they announced they would provide £20 million for peatland restoration in 2020-21 with a commitment to invest £250 million over the next ten years. This was described as “an absolute game changer for CO2 emissions reductions, biodiversity and the rural economy” by Roseanna Cunningham, Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform. However, the Scottish Government has recently been criticised for its lack of data on how much peat is actually extracted, as it currently doesn’t keep records. Environmental bodies in LINK have raised concerns about the lack of monitoring and information which is key to ensuring the practice is phased out effectively.
It is also concerning that three planning applications to extend the duration of peatland extraction have recently been lodged, two in Dumfries and Galloway [4] and one in South Lanarkshire [5], which would enable operations to continue on existing peat extraction sites into the 2030s.
LINK member organisations have sent joint objection letters to the local authorities stating that any further peat extraction will undermine Scotland’s net zero target and specifically be contrary to the Council’s obligations under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act (2009). The applications also run contrary to minerals and planning policies. We sincerely hope that the applications will be refused, as this is a no brainer in terms of working towards Scotland’s climate change targets. Not only that, if the Government is spending millions of taxpayers’ money on peatland restoration projects it seems more than a little mad to continue to grant permissions to extract it, particularly when good alternatives are available.
Finding good alternatives is crucial: peatland is a valuable commodity across the world and essential to our efforts to tackle climate change. We need to not only halt extraction in Scotland, which is damaging vital habitats, removing fundamental ecosystem services including carbon storage, but we also need to build demand for peat free alternatives to prevent the problem being exported.
The Covid crisis and associated lockdown has brought into sharp focus many aspects of our life, our society and our economy; what is important to us and how well equipped we are to deal with sudden shocks. The recovery package being considered by the Scottish Government offers an opportunity to set our economy on a different trajectory – one that puts people and the environment first.
Prior to the recent abrupt downturn in economic activity, our economy was eating its way through the world’s natural resources at a rate that was both unsustainable from an environmental point of view and undesirable from an economic resilience point of view. The world’s consumption of materials has hit a record of 100 bn tonnes a year, and the proportion being recycled is falling – was the sobering headline from January’s Circularity Gap report.
What’s more, the quantity of raw materials consumed is a key driver of our climate and nature emergencies. The 2019 Global Resource Outlook shows that extracting and processing raw materials is responsible for half the world’s carbon emissions and 80% of biodiversity loss and the consumption of natural resources, which has tripled since the 1970’s, is set to further double by 2060. Unsurprisingly, Western societies are the main culprits. We are consuming far more than our fair share and if everyone lived like UK citizens, we would need about 3 Earths to sustain ourselves, according to ecological footprint data.
Currently we are incredibly wasteful – we generally grow or extract raw materials, make products, use them and then, at the end of their life, discard them. We need to re-programme our economy to extract less from the planet, reuse what we’ve already taken and reduce our waste. This is called a circular economy.
The economic fallout from Covid is going to be huge and governments around the world are thinking about recovery packages. The Scottish Government has committed to a green recovery. We need a more circular economy to be a key focus.
There is public support for this – people do not like waste and are becoming increasingly aware of the impact of our consumptive lifestyle. In a recent survey, over 70% of respondents agreed with the statement that Scotland needs an overall reduction in the amount of raw materials that are used.
Now is the time for a purposeful redirection to a less wasteful, and more circular, restorative and resilient economy.
To achieve this, the Government needs to draw on the expertise in Zero Waste Scotland where there is a wealth of knowledge on different aspects of a more circular economy. Government needs to follow the recommendations of the Infrastructure Commission and make sure that investments in infrastructure support and enable a less polluting and less wasteful economy. It needs to engage with repair and re-use enterprises, to learn about how best to support this sector – a recent survey shows that the Scottish public want repairable products and feel that the Scottish Government should make sure they have access to repair and reuse services as well as recycling services. It needs to think about supply chains and how to close loops. The current crisis has exposed the vulnerability of our global economy and international supply chains. It needs to remember that enterprises that use the land and sea need to be restorative and support those that actively look after the soil, biodiversity and the sea.
Also important in the recovery is what we don’t support. For too long, good initiatives have been supported alongside business as usual. It is time to be bold and decisive – governments need to invest in the infrastructure and enterprises that will contribute to the type of economy we aspire to and to not support practices that lock us into a linear, polluting and wasteful economy. Support for such enterprises, should be conditional on commitments and plans to change.
Let’s hope that a more circular economy is one of the positive outcomes of this difficult time.
Dr Phoebe Cochrane is the Sustainable Economics Officer at Scottish Environment LINK and leads on the project: A Circular Economy for a Fairer Footprint
Following the Scottish government’s recent announcement that refusal to extend the Brexit transition would have a damaging impact on Scotland’s recovery from the Covid-19 crisis [1], Scottish Environment LINK (LINK), a coalition of Scotland’s leading environmental charities has warned that the accompanying loss of EU environmental protections for Scotland would also put at risk ambitions for a post COVID-19 green recovery.
Currently 1 in 9 wildlife species in Scotland is facing extinction [2]. LINK has warned of this threat and has urged for urgent measures to help prevent a further decline of Scotland’s nature and to avoid undermining a green recovery for Scotland.
Since 2018, more than 35 organisations joined forces under the coalition LINK to launch the campaign, Fight for Scotland’s Nature, to push for legally binding targets for the protection of Scotland’s nature and an action plan for delivery. This included calling for a new and independent watchdog to enforce environmental protections after Brexit.
As much as, 80% of Scotland’s environmental protection stem from EU legislation [3].The charities now fear that Scotland’s natural environment will be put at further risk if time runs out to negotiate a comprehensive deal on the EU exit by the end of the year. Both the UK and Scottish governments need to ensure that measures are established to protect Scotland’s world-renowned natural assets before we leave the EU. Together, the charities also warn that much work needs to be done to put in place strong and lasting environmental protections and to have legislation that is meaningful and adequate.
Proposals for a Scottish environmental watchdog had been due to be set out in the Scottish government’s Continuity Bill this past spring. With the legislation delayed as the government responds to the pandemic, time is now running out to ensure key protections for the environment are developed and in place by the end of 2020, when the transition period to leave the EU ends.
Deborah Long, Chief Officer of Scottish Environment LINK said,
“The unprecedented health and economic challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic have posed challenges to governments at all levels. Despite this, there remains the huge and vital challenge of tackling the continued loss of nature and climate change, reversing the declines of habitats and species. We need a new environmental watchdog with the powers to independently safeguard our natural assets and enforce their protection so that they are not eroded and undermine Scotland’s green recovery. Many of us have relied on nature for our wellbeing during the lockdown; it’s now time for us to fight for Scotland’s nature.”
Media enquiries to:
Azra Wyart on 07788437819/mediaandeventsscotland@gmail.com
A blog by Juliet Caldwell, Species Champion Coordinator at Scottish Environment LINK.
The last few weeks have seen an unprecedented and disruptive change to our daily lives in a bid to keep us safe. In a time of uncertainty, what is certain is that the current situation and the advice regarding social distancing and self-isolation will have a massive impact on our mental health and overall sense of wellbeing.
The human-nature relationship is an important one. Studies across the world are clarifying what many instinctively know; that we often feel restored when we spend time in nature. Over the past few years mounting research has shown that interactions with nature lowers blood pressure and decreases levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which calms the body’s fight or flight response. Most research has focused on the visual aspects of nature experiences. However, humans are multi-sensory and benefits are delivered through non-visual senses such as sound, smell, taste and touch. Watching birds and listening to bird song can help filter away stress.
Globally, people are shifting their relationship to the natural environment at a time when access to shared outdoor space has rarely been so difficult. The COVID-19 pandemic may be a chance to shift perceptions of what “nature” really means and finding new hyper-local ways to appreciate it. At a time when the mental health effects of mass isolation and anxiety over a rising death toll are still unmeasured and unknown, experts have highlighted the importance of getting up close with nature in whatever way possible. Vitamin D from the sunshine boosts immune systems and bone health. Immersion in greenery has been linked to reduction of stress, healthier heart rates and blood pressure.
However, the current lockdown is proving challenging for millions of people across the country who do not have access to greenspace. Access to greenspaces has become a luxury, despite access to them being fundamental to our ability to stay healthy. Public parks have closed their gates and neighbourhoods are losing vital access to green space. While strict isolation rules have been implemented to keep us safe, not having access to nature in an outdoor space has dangerous knock-on effects on physical and mental health for many. However, an increased quantity and quality of green space won’t just benefit us – it’ll help conserve biodiversity and reverse nature’s decline so that wildlife can thrive, not just survive.
Our opportunities to engage with nature may be fewer during the pandemic but there are numerous ways to stay connected to the natural world and look after your wellbeing. Noticing nature through a window, tending plants or taking green exercise all can improve your well-being and self-esteem. We are currently watching spring unfold, a symbol of renewal and regeneration. Humans are inherently social, and the prospect of forced isolation has led many of us to reconnect with nature. Nature will nurture us. However, the relationship will only survive and remain balanced if it is reciprocated.
There’s nothing good about the coronavirus pandemic. Since we’re fated to go through this passage, we may as well learn something from it. There are a few insights to learn. The COVID-19 crisis has seen humans act with unprecedented solidarity. It is abundantly clear now that prevention is better than cure. The pandemic has revealed some truths: that disasters do not respect borders; that solidarity brings strength; that science and expert advice matter; and that delay is deadly. The same lessons hold true for today’s nature crisis, where nature, in Scotland and across the world is diminishing in terms of species diversity and habitat occupation. While the pandemic was sudden and will be temporal, the impacts of nature loss is incremental, but also severe and persistent. Without support and investment, nature cannot continue to provide the wellbeing and livelihoods we depend on.
People around the world are realising the importance of nature for our wellbeing. The world has come to a standstill and we’ve never had so much free time. People are turning to gardening and small-scale agricultural activities. We have time to reflect upon our relationship with nature. People of all ages are craving open spaces; realising the wellbeing and health benefits of being in nature. We need nature more than ever, as a solution, as a resource, for respite and for our mental health and wellbeing. Appreciating nature and having access to it has never been so important.
When planning for this event, no one could ever have predicted how this theme would come to serve not only its original purpose – to focus minds on creative synergistic solutions to the twin biodiversity and climate emergencies – but also to resonate with such profound clarity as we move through the global pandemic and look towards a fundamentally transformed future.
The collective realisation that the way this transformation will unfold lies in our hands, that, despite collective loss and suffering, despite recession and job losses, we stand at a uniquely unfrozen moment, is tangible.
People are already beginning to find and take the opportunities inherent in our new context, to work towards a better world.
In New Zealand, a country with a human population virtually identical to Scotland’s, the government this week announced a $1.1 billion investment to create 11,000 new environment-based jobs[1]. The focus and thrust of this investment is the restoration of nature: regional environment projects; the control of invasive species and biosecurity to prevent future problems; new jobs in the statutory conservation agencies’ programmes for protected areas and beyond, including species and habitat monitoring; and a new budget to fund biodiversity restoration on both public and private land.
Also this week, the European Commission is releasing its long-awaited Biodiversity Strategy – but in a progressive move, simultaneously launching its Farm to Fork Strategy. Agriculture and fishing are among the most important drivers of biodiversity loss across the planet. The simultaneous launch signals that a new norm may be emerging in Europe – where food production and nature work to mutual benefit for a healthy and sustainable future. LINK organisations have yet to analyse the detail of these strategies, but initial indications are promising: they aim to increase nature protected areas on land and at sea by 30%; to restore 10% of farmland for biodiversity, with more and better managed field margins, hedgerows and wildflower areas; to introduce binding nature restoration targets, to restore ecosystems such as peatlands, wetlands, forests and marine habitats – essential nature-based solutions for an effective package of climate change mitigation and adaptation.
The COVID-19 pandemic must offer lessons for us all. For me, it has brought home the simple fact that a healthy planet is a precondition for healthy human societies and personal wellbeing; that science and evidence should guide and direct policy; and that crises must be acted on quickly if we are to gain and effect control.
These two developments, at contrasting geographic scales and in distant parts of the world, hopefully signal that such lessons from the pandemic are beginning to be learned, and that this learning is being put into practice quickly and decisively.
We all know that despite the sudden and intense shift of focus that the pandemic brought us, the climate and biodiversity emergencies have not gone away. The State of Nature 2019 report[2] tells us that we are losing nature in Scotland. The IPBES Global Assessment[3] tells us that transformative change is needed to reverse such losses and avoid severe damage to human wellbeing from ecosystems degradation.
Scotland’s Environment Strategy and Programme for Government point to an intent to address these crises effectively in future. We already lead in key areas like peatland restoration. Now we are seeing strategic and practical post-Covid developments emerging across the world that signal new and progressive ways forward. I believe that with investment and imagination Scotland can join these leaders – and that a better future is in our grasp.
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